November, 20 2012, 10:38am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7413 5566,After hours: +44 7778 472 126,Email:,press@amnesty.org
Europe Has Still a Long Way to go to Combat Violence Against Transgender People
WASHINGTON
European countries should take further steps to protect trans people from violence that has left in excess of a thousand dead worldwide in the past four years, Amnesty International urged on Trans Remembrance Day.
There were 1,083 reported killings of trans people worldwide from 2008 to 2012, with research showing the number of deaths has risen each year.
Data from the Trans Murder Monitoring show that 64 trans people were killed in Europe from 2008 to date. Yet throughout the continent, only France, Sweden, Scotland (United Kingdom) and Croatia (as of 1 January 2013) include violent attacks based on gender identity in anti-hate crime legislation.
"Trans people are discriminated against and targeted for violence on the grounds of their gender identity and expression - in Europe and around the world," said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International's discrimination expert.
"This lack of protection against gender identity-based violence flouts human rights standards, and fails to acknowledge that transphobic hate crime is a form of discrimination".
"If criminal law fails to acknowledge that hate crimes can happen based on real or perceived gender identity, the hate motive is not thoroughly investigated and prosecuted."
Hate crime is not the only form of discrimination suffered by trans people.
In the majority of European countries trans people cannot seek legal recognition of their gender unless they comply with a list of criteria that can include psychiatric diagnosis, sterilisation, genital surgery and divorce.
Moreover, trans identities are still classified as mental disorders at the international level and frequently at the national.
In countries such as Ireland and Lithuania, gaps in national legislation make it impossible for trans people to legally change their gender.
In many countries including Belgium, France, Finland, Norway and Turkey trans individuals who do not wish to undergo gender reassignment surgeries and sterilization are not allowed to change the gender on their birth certificate.
"Compulsory requirements such as sterilisation, divorce and gender reassignment treatments upon which gender legal recognition is made dependent, violate the rights of trans people to equality before the law, to private and family life, to freedom from degrading treatments and to the highest attainable standards of health," said Perolini.
Background
The Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project (Respect versus Transphobia), which monitors, collects and analyses reports of homicides of trans people worldwide, revealed in November 2012 a total of 1,083 reported killings of trans people in 56 countries worldwide from January 2008 to November 2012.
Amnesty International refers to transgender, or trans, people as individuals whose gender expression and/or gender identity differs from conventional expectations based on the physical sex they were assigned at birth. Trans is a political umbrella term that is used to describe a wide range of identities, experiences and people whose appearance seem to conflict with the binary gender norms of society, including transsexuals, transgender, travesti, gender queers, cross dressers, drag queens, drag kings and many more.
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) adopted by the World Health Organization in 1990 includes under the category "gender identity disorders" transsexualism, dual-role transvestitism and gender identity disorder of childhood. The Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM IV, American Association of Psychiatrists, 1994) includes "gender identity disorders", "transvestic fetishism". Amnesty International supports the removal of the classification of gender identities as mental disorders in the DSM and ICD and the reclassification of only those relevant aspects of transgender-related health care in a non-stigmatizing manner to facilitate access to health care.
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all. Our supporters are outraged by human rights abuses but inspired by hope for a better world - so we work to improve human rights through campaigning and international solidarity. We have more than 2.2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions and we coordinate this support to act for justice on a wide range of issues.
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'A National Disgrace': 19 States to Raise Minimum Wage But Federal Rate Stuck at $7.25
One Fair Wage noted that "tipped workers can still legally be paid as little as $2.13 an hour, a system advocates describe as a direct legacy of slavery."
Dec 31, 2025
Over a third of US states are set to raise their minimum hourly wage in 2026, but worker advocates including Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday decried a federal minimum wage that's remained at $7.25 since 2009—and just $2.13 an hour for tipped workers for over three decades.
Minimum wage hikes are set to go into effect in 19 states on Thursday: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
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Three more states—Alaska, Florida, and Oregon—plus Washington, DC are scheduled to raise their minimum wages later in 2026.
In addition to the state hikes, nearly 50 counties and municipalities plan to raise their minimum wages in the coming year, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP). These include San Diego, California—where the minimum wage for hospitality workers is set to rise to $25 an hour by 2030—and Portland, Maine, where all workers will earn at least $19 by 2028.
However, the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25, and the subminimum rate for tipped workers is $2.13, where it's been since 1991—and has lost more than half its purchasing power since then.
The federal minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 since 2009. In 2026, workers in 19 states and 49 cities and counties an increase. Alabama’s rate will stay at $7.25. 🔗 https://t.co/mrGfPAKba3 pic.twitter.com/EsokVIc6KP
— AL.com (@aldotcom) December 31, 2025
"Tipped workers can still legally be paid as little as $2.13 an hour, a system advocates describe as a direct legacy of slavery," the advocacy group One Fair Wage (OFW) said in a statement Tuesday.
Sanders (I-Vt.) said on social media on the eve of the hikes: "Congratulations to the 19 states raising the minimum wage in 2026. But let’s be clear: A $7.25 federal minimum wage is a national disgrace. No one who works full time should live in poverty. We must keep fighting to guarantee all workers a living wage—not starvation wages."
Yannet Lathrop, NELP's senior researcher and policy analyst, said earlier this month that "the upcoming minimum wage increases are incremental and won’t magically turn severely underpaid jobs into living-wage jobs, but they do offer a bit of relief at a time when every dollar matters for people."
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Numerous experts note that neither $7.25, nor even $15 an hour, is a livable wage anywhere in the United States.
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Frustrated by the long-unchanged $7.25 federal minimum wage, numerous states in recent years have let voters give themselves raises via ballot initiatives. Such measures have been successful even in some red states, including Missouri and Nebraska.
Rising minimum wages are a legacy of the union-backed #FightFor15 movement that began among striking fast-food workers in 2012. At least 20 states now have minimum wages of $15 or higher.
However, back then, "the buying power of a $15 minimum wage was substantially higher than it is today," EPI noted. "In 2025, a $15 minimum wage does not achieve economic security for working people in most of the country. This is particularly true in the highest cost-of-living cities."
In April, US senators voted down an amendment that would have raised the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour. Every Democratic and Independent upper chamber lawmaker voted in favor of the measure, while all Republicans except Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) rejected it.
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— Airport Workers United (@goodairports.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 10:34 AM
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— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) December 31, 2025 at 4:24 PM
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